Friday, December 16, 2005

A hidden agenda or a country finally achieving some enlightenment?

Much of the Middle East bathes in the dirty glow emanating from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and routinely denies the Holocaust. Saudi Arabia, however, perhaps because America is breathing over its shoulder in surprisingly came out swinging against Ahmadinejad's latest bit of verbal insanity:

Saudi Arabia joined the world Thursday in condemning remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Holocaust is a myth, with the Muslim country’s new ambassador to the United States saying the “horrific genocide” is an undisputed “historical fact.”
Western countries have condemned Ahmadinejad’s comments broadcast on Iranian state television Wednesday where he denied the Holocaust and suggested Israel be moved to Alaska.
'As far as Saudi Arabia is concerned, that's a historical fact, you cannot deny that, and people should move forward from that,' said Prince Turki al-Faisal during an interview with the Washington Post.

Indeed, al-Faisal went even one step further, recognizing Israel's right to exist:

Defending the Arab World’s policy towards Israel, Turki said Arab states have "made our peace" with the creation of Israel. He evoked a Saudi peace plan adopted by the Arab League in 2002, committing Arab nations to a peace process with Israel should the Jewish State agree to concede land it captured during the 1967 war and the creation of the Palestinian state. The Arab World will in return recognize Israel’s right to exist and push for normalization.
"It is a done deal for us," he said. "We are not going to go back on that."

I'm going back to look at the original WaPo interview, because I'm a bit perplexed by the sentence that says "defending the Arab World's policy towards Israel, Turki said Arab states have 'made our peace' with the creation of Israel." This perplexes me because the Arab World has, since 1948, been calling for Israel's destruction. What "Arab World" is the writer talking about in this sentence? [Okay, it's probably just me being a dimwit, since I'm surrounded by way too many kids this afternoon, but when I went to the WaPo, a search did not reveal any article about an interview with al-Faisal. Can anyone clue me in on this?]